Leading vehicle telematics and tracking services provider, Ctrack, will monitor the driving performance of the 50 finalists in the 2019 Hollard Highway Heroes truck driving competition.

Hollard Highway Heroes, which kicked-off earlier this month, identifies and rewards South Africa’s best long-distance truck drivers, who must prove that they drive better than their peers in order to win substantial prizes.

The proof of this will be provided by competition sponsor Ctrack, whose tracking hardware will capture and record key driving information for the last 45 days of the competition, including how the drivers behave over the course of the event. Ctrack will keep track of driver speeds, harsh braking, fatigue Day/Night and total kilometres.

Ctrack’s live Business Intelligence model, will be used to provide feedback to the top 50 finalists. These drivers in the 2019 competition will all win prizes, depending on their final positions, which makes the accuracy of the data provided by Ctrack all that more important.

Ctrack is delighted to participate in Hollard Highway Heroes since truck accidents are a major issue in South Africa. However, it is widely recognised that driver education and upskilling can have a dramatic, positive effect on reducing road-related risks. Employers also have a duty of care for their employees to ensure they are driving in a responsible manner. The competition has shown an in-competition improvement in driver skills of 65%, with drivers maintaining good driving habits thereafter.

Furthermore, businesses with a safe driving culture are achieving reductions in speeding and harsh driving events of 50% or more. This information is music to the ears of insurance brokers. Ctrack systems can even generate alerts when high G-force events occur, enabling proactive contact with your driver to verify they are safe or in need of assistance.

For the first time, the competition is open to all truck drivers, regardless of who their insurer is. This gives more drivers the opportunity to win big, and encourages thousands more to drive better – which amplifies the road safety benefit that the competition offers.

While the competition therefore has a strong road safety element, there are a number of other benefits for fleet owners when using fleet telematics and tracking solutions.

“The return on investment from implementing a holistic telematics system that is capable of capturing, measuring, and proactively identifying driver errors, as well as predicting possible accidents and even loss of life, cannot be emphasized enough,” explains Hein Jordt, MD of Ctrack South Africa.

“Ctrack’s total solution offerings for business fleets, transport operations and the warehousing and logistics industries, is second to none. Our ultimate goal, to drive efficiencies and save costs, has been proven time and again by the accolades given to us by our customers, and we are very proud to have been selected by Hollard Insure to monitor the top 50 finalists.”